Your pop music is influenced by God

Today, Explained

Vox

News, Daily News, Politics

4.4 • 9.5K Ratings

🗓️ 19 December 2025

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Popular music went more Christian this year, but religion has had a long history of influencing secular sounds. This episode was produced by Hady Mawajdeh, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Patrick Boyd and David Tatasciore, and hosted by Astead Herndon. Worshipers during the 2023 "It's Time" tour in Atlanta, GA. Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images. Listen to Today, Explained ad-free by becoming a Vox Member: vox.com/members. New Vox members get $20 off their membership right now. Transcript at ⁠vox.com/today-explained-podcast.⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	So here's a little secret.
0:02.0	When I'm feeling particularly anxious, or a little scared,
0:05.0	I have an emergency playlist of gospel songs that almost always makes me feel better.
0:10.0	Like this one.
0:12.0	Or this one.
0:15.0	If you think your God is in time my mind.
0:18.0	Christian music, particularly the old school stuff my parents used to listen to, has always
0:22.8	made me feel hope, feel inspired, feel calm. But now, it seems more and more people,
0:28.9	not just pastors' kids like me, are turning the Christian tracks for that same reason.
0:35.7	Worship songs had a big year in 2025,
0:38.9	with Christian artists going viral on TikTok
0:40.9	and rising on the Billboard charts.
0:44.1	What's behind all of this?
0:45.9	Besides God, of course.
0:51.3	That's coming up on Today Explain from Box.
1:00.0	Okay. That's coming up on Today Explain from Box. Support for this show comes from Odu.
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	...

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